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SnF Grand Champion - Kit Homebuilt

Pat Hatch

Well Known Member
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Congratulations to our friend and hangar neighbor here in Vero Beach, Tom Savrda, who's newly painted (he painted it himself) RV-7 won grand champion at Sun 'n Fun.

I must say this was richly deserved--I have never seen a nicer RV-7 in terms of the quality of the build, fit & finish, and attention to detail.

Here are a few pix:

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Congratulations to Tom! Having seen him building the aircraft this does not surprise me. Well done!
 
Really Nice, pass on congratulations to him. Hey, those wheel pants don't look like James nor the PR vans, are they the old ones?
 
ditto on that pat. very tasteful paint and details i can't believe. congrats Tom.
 
Bob, and what's really noteworthy is that he totally scratch built the intake/plennum system a la James, but no James' parts at all.

The wheel fairings are the standard Vans PR pants.
 
Good job!

I was wondering about the lightening holes in the tip-up frame. I don't think I've ever seen that done before.
 
Good eye! Isn't that the roll-over structure for the tip-ups? The lightening holes would certainly degrade the strength if nothing else was done to compensate in some other way.

I?d think you?d certainly want to dimple them for strength. We did that in drag cars and Pontiac did it on superduty frames in the 60s it degraded strength to the point they had to put 2x4s in the frames when they flipped them on the assembly line so they wouldn?t break.

I?d like to know more about the mod though.

It?s nice to have a light airplane, that?s for sure.
 
Good eye! Isn't that the roll-over structure for the tip-ups? The lightening holes would certainly degrade the strength if nothing else was done to compensate in some other way.

The lighting holes that I see are only in the part that holds the shape on the rear of the tip up canopy, not in the rollover framework itself.
 
Lightening Holes

A couple of comments about Tom's lightening holes in the canopy frame that Tom asked me to clarify. As Ed pointed out, the lightening holes are only in the canopy frame, not in the roll-over structure. Tom's comment was that not only was this part of his weight reduction plan, but also he wanted to lighten the overall weight of the canopy so that it would be easier to open and close.

Here are a few photos that illustrate this:

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It is a beautiful RV. Wish he had been there for the ceremony. It's always nice to shake a hand and see the grin.
 
Congrats Tom

Tom and his son were my Nextdoor campsite neighbors. When he pulled up in that beautiful airplane I was truly in awe. I've never seen composite work that nice! Tom and his son Tyler got SOAKED in the Wednesday night rain event but he stuck it out and had his airplane opened up and on display every day.

Well deserved!
Congratulations Tom and Tyler!
 
Congratulations Tom Savrda - RV-7 Lindy Trophy

All of us here in Vero Beach are really proud of Tom Savrda's win at Oshkosh - Lindy Trophy for his RV-7, Kit Built Champion Award. He's on his way home as I write this. Here they are in HBC:

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Awards ceremony. Tom and his son, Tyler, receiving their award:

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I'm lucky I got to chat with Tom for a few minutes at Oshkosh about his beautiful airplane he built.

Congrats!
 
Congratulations Tom! Well deserved!

A fair amount of Tom's RV gestation took place in my hangar so I got to see everything under the paint too. If you're thinking you're going to build one as nice or better there's a little tidbit about Tom's RV you need to know, he color matched the rivets!

Dave
 
i think this is probably one of the most impressive built airplanes i've ever seen. if anybody gets a chance to see this airplane, talk with tom and get a tour.
 
Congratulations to our friend and hangar neighbor here in Vero Beach, Tom Savrda, who's newly painted (he painted it himself) RV-7 won grand champion at Sun 'n Fun.

I must say this was richly deserved--I have never seen a nicer RV-7 in terms of the quality of the build, fit & finish, and attention to detail.

Hi Pat,

Shelby Smith from Nashville. Agreed, I parked next to Tom, had a great time looking at and talking to him about his plane. Great Oshkosh this year.
 
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